People tend to forget that a motorcycle uses a wet clutch.  This means you have more wiggle room on letting the clutch slip.  The gs needs to be revved up to get a good start out of first gear.  Keep the rpm's up and let the clutch do all the work until you come out of the turn.  But do practice- cause the last you thing you need or want is to dump the clutch with the rpms at 5,000 and the bike leaned over.  But having a little extra in reserve will also help you pull the bike up if anything goes wrong.

Back to this whole standing on the pegs thing.  I say practice riding around on your pegs.  There are instances where you will need to get out of the saddle - especially if you are in an emergency situation and need to ride over something big.  You should feel confortable standing on the pegs and controlling the bike... but I really wouldn't recommend riding around that way.  It changes your center of gravity and it takes away several contact points between you and your bike that are vital in controlling the bike.  What happens when you are making a U-turn and some guy pulls out to turn right.  If you hit the brakes hard you are going to fight to stay on the bike and when the bike stops you have THAT much farther to go to get your foot down before you drop it.

AND, honestly, you DON"T NEED to stand on the pegs of the gs to make it manuever around.  It really is a very easy bike to push around.  Turning is more a matter of getting your weight to the outside of the turn.  Practice getting your left butt cheek on the right side of the seat while making left hand turns.  Practice looking through the turn.  Practice feathering the clutch.

Practice practice practice

Quote from: z315 on January 16, 2006, 10:12:33 PM
got some pratice today at the local college. pratice dose make things perfect, but i still can't do those hairpin U turns, and reading proficent motorcycling, it seems i'm going way to fast to cut that turn, and if i slow down below 3000 rpm, the bike starts to chock and feels like it's going to stall... hmmmm

Good! Keep practicing. Now, this is where feathering the clutch in the friction zone helps smooth out the 'chockiness' of the engine (the chugging, or lugging, of the engine at low rpm's), and prevents overloading the engine such that it stalls.  Think of it this way - you have two valves, the throttle valve and the clutch valve, the throttle valve controls how much power you have and the clutch valve controls how much of that power you use. Remember, without the clutch you would have no way to "disengage", or "feed in", that power.
Now, as for standing on the pegs, I would rather suggest that you stay seated and 'weigh, or weight, the outside peg'; still slide the cheek off to the outside, and dig that knee into the tank, that'll help put that weight on the outside peg.

We rode over 4x4's in class. You had to stand on the pegs or you would probably dump it from the jolt. I have stood on the pegs when hitting pot holes every day to/from work this week. (darn construction) When I don't it hurts and is unsettling. Plus it is probably the closest to off-roading it I will get.. might as well have fun.

I am a lazy bastard so i didn't read through exactly every pose, But u-turns are a bit harder on out bikes cause they are heavier.  I took the course on a cb150 and I didn't need all the box to do the two u-turns required in the box.  That being said it feels as though the weight of the bike is going to flop over so you do lean it as far.  It was said eailer but you have to more consiously shift you weight to the outside of the turn by shifting you but in that direction.  It takes a lot of practice but in time you will get it.  Sorry if this has been said 8 times before

I hope everyone is learning to use the clutch at slow speeds. For some, it may be easier with a smaller cc bike to do slow turns without it. BUT wait until you get on a larger cc bike, especially a 1 liter twin. Not using the clutch is asking for a drop. Now is the time to create good habits.

Practice , first practice riding at walking pace or less. Use first gear, slip the clutch to keep revs up and use the rear brake. This goes against all "car" rules and conventions but it is the only way with a bike. When you are happy with your slow speed then start doing a few manouvers, figure of eight perhaps in a parking lot.

Doing the U turn at full lock or very near it is not a big deal once you get the speed-revs thing right. Do not look down at kerbs, roadmarkings or your front wheel. Look where you want to be. practice, practice and then practice. same as hill-starts and emergency stops, you may never have to do one but you need to know how.

Quote from: z315 on January 15, 2006, 02:24:44 PM
Hey now guys,

back when i took the MSF course, i had no trouble doing that box drill with the rebel bike that was issued to me. but now with the GS, i just can't to get the same technique down, it seems very chaoic and not in control. dose anybody has any tip and advice,  should i try standing on the pegs when i do my U turns? thank you in advance

it's a silly question i know, but i rather ask here then drop it in a busy intersection.

Practice is what you need.

Find an empty parking lot and begin doing some slow speed figure eight turns.  Just keep doing this until you feel comfortable.  If you try this maybe once a week in your free time you will become more comfortable at low speed on your bike. 

Even if you feel that you might not need to ever do a tight u-turn it is good to practice.